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Things learned about football from people working behind a bar

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    Things learned about football from people working behind a bar

    I got my hair cut yesterday evening and, as I always do, I went for a pint afterwards. I got talking to a couple of contractors staying in the area and the conversation turned to football. Neither of them were particularly big fans, but I mentioned Bury a few times and the woman behind the bar asked if I was anything to do with the club. I’m not, but she went on to tell me that he great-grandad played for Bolton in the first ever season of the Football League. Not only that, he was the first ever goalscorer in the entire Football League too.

    I also learned from a landlady of a pub who her famous footballing brother was. I was in the Hare and Hounds on Shudehill a few years ago complaining that I didn’t have a former footballer to interview for my page in the matchday programme. “My brother used to play for Bury,” she said. Having heard this line a number of times and having got my hopes up only to have them dashed when the player turned out to have made three ‘B’ team appearances in 1976, I was cautious when I asked his name.

    “Stan Bowles,” came the reply.

    #2
    Not exactly on thread, but keeping to the barber motif... A few years ago I too was having my hair cut, and got talking to the barber about football. When he found out that I was a Villa fan, he told me that his brother used to play for Villa, and his name was... Ralph Brown. I wasn't over-impressed really, but looked him up later and yes, he did indeed play for the Villa. Once. However it wasn't a bad game to pick, as his only appearance for the club was in the first leg of the first ever League Cup final in 1961, so he picked up a League Cup winners medal. Surely this is some sort of record?

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      #3
      Back in the 80s I was on holidays in Lido di Jesolo near Venice, there was a bar/pizzeria across the road from the campsite we were staying in. The owner was a friendly guy with no English. One night I noticed a photo of what looked like a younger him with Pele on the pitch at what was obviously the 70 world cup final,I asked his daughter who spoke good English and she confirmed he did play in that game,his name was Rodrigo Ceri,he was very modest about the whole thing,always regret I never got a photo with him

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        #4
        After all that I got his name wrong,it was Pierluigi Cera

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          #5
          In winter, I definitely work behind a bar. If anybody ever asked, "Here, treibeis, do you know anyone who's been humiliated by Paul Gascoigne on a football pitch?", I could say, "Yes. My father's only son."

          But nobody ever will ask that.

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            #6
            Cera was in the Cagliari side that won the club's only scudetto and is a member of their all time XI

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              #7
              Originally posted by treibeis View Post
              In winter, I definitely work behind a bar. If anybody ever asked, "Here, treibeis, do you know anyone who's been humiliated by Paul Gascoigne on a football pitch?", I could say, "Yes. My father's only son."

              But nobody ever will ask that.
              Here, treibeis, do you know anyone who's been humiliated by Paul Gascoigne on a football pitch?

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                #8
                When my best mate and I were in Berlin ten years ago we got lunch in a football bar near Ku'Damm and when our food came the manager asked who we supported. On hearing my answer he went, 'Ah, Manchester United ... they were a tough team to play against. George Best was a bugger to mark.' To answer our confusion he then explained he was an ex Hertha and Bayern player who'd been kept out of the national team by Franz Beckenbauer. There were photos of a younger him on the walls. I forget his name now but I remember relating this story on here at the time and several of you lot knew the exact bar, so it's not a particularly interesting tale, but it's what I've got.

                I know a bar manager (he was the doorman at my local when I got to know him) who lives here because he was brought down from Colombia by an agent who'd promised him a career with an Argentine club as a shop window to Mexico or Europe, and then abandoned him after a few trials at some clubs didn't lead to anything. Frankly you don't have to go to many bars in Buenos Aires before you'll meet a Colombian with a similar story to tell, though. He's not the only one I've talked to.

                Originally posted by Giggler View Post
                I also learned from a landlady of a pub who her famous footballing brother was. I was in the Hare and Hounds on Shudehill a few years ago complaining that I didn’t have a former footballer to interview for my page in the matchday programme. “My brother used to play for Bury,” she said. Having heard this line a number of times and having got my hopes up only to have them dashed when the player turned out to have made three ‘B’ team appearances in 1976, I was cautious when I asked his name.

                “Stan Bowles,” came the reply.
                In fairness, he only played five games for you, so your scepticism wasn't so misplaced, really.

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                  #9
                  I was in a bar in Richmond VA in about 2002. The guy behind the bar was a scouse who told me he had been on Liverpool's roster in the seventies. He said Tommy Smith was an asshole.

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                    #10
                    A barman at one of the pubs on Edinburgh's Rose Street once told me that the guy with whom I'd just had a (very) minor disagreement while watching the 2008 League Cup semi-final second leg was Alex Cropley.

                    Does that sort of count?

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Sam View Post
                      When my best mate and I were in Berlin ten years ago we got lunch in a football bar near Ku'Damm and when our food came the manager asked who we supported. On hearing my answer he went, 'Ah, Manchester United ... they were a tough team to play against. George Best was a bugger to mark.' To answer our confusion he then explained he was an ex Hertha and Bayern player who'd been kept out of the national team by Franz Beckenbauer. There were photos of a younger him on the walls. I forget his name now but I remember relating this story on here at the time and several of you lot knew the exact bar, so it's not a particularly interesting tale, but it's what I've got.

                      I know a bar manager (he was the doorman at my local when I got to know him) who lives here because he was brought down from Colombia by an agent who'd promised him a career with an Argentine club as a shop window to Mexico or Europe, and then abandoned him after a few trials at some clubs didn't lead to anything. Frankly you don't have to go to many bars in Buenos Aires before you'll meet a Colombian with a similar story to tell, though. He's not the only one I've talked to.



                      In fairness, he only played five games for you, so your scepticism wasn't so misplaced, really.
                      True, but it was a bloody impressive number to have in your phone. My dad and I met him for a drink in one of the four pubs when Bury were at Brentford in 2009. He was like a character in a gangster film as fellas kept coming in with wads of notes for him ("You won this on the 1.40 at Chepstow, this on the 1.45 at Ripon, this on the 2.00 at Wetherby"). Nice company too.

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